Manufacture of boxes or cartons



v G. J. BRYAN MANUFACTURE QF BoxEs 0R cAR'roNsl l v,Maly 13, 1969 voffs' lsheet Filed Aug. 29, 1966 May 13, l969 G. J. BRYAN v 3,443,491

MANUFACTURE OF -BOXES OR CARTONS Filed Aug. 29. 196e sheet 3 of s United States Patent 3,443,491 MANUFACTURE F BOXES 0R CARTONS Geoffrey J. Bryan, Kettering, England, assignor to Senior Products Limited, Desborough, England Filed Aug. 29, 1966, Ser. No. 575,622 Int. Cl. B31b 1/16 U.S. Cl. 93-58.4 12 Claims ABSTRACT 0F THE DISCLOSURE Method and apparatus for opening cardboard box blanks and cutting selected flaps thereof, whereby to shorten only such selected flaps, which method includes deflecting all of the flaps on one side of the carton blank out of the plane of said blank, releasing less than all of the so deflected flaps, whereby leaving one or more flaps still deflected, providing guide means between the deflected and released flaps, whereby to maintain such separate and trimming one or the other of the separated flaps.

This invention is for improvements in or relating to the manufacture of boxes or cartons and is concerned more particularly with the making or shaping of the end flaps. The invention has for an object to facilitate the speedy manufacture of four sided cartons having two opposite sides wider than the intervening sides and consequently having end flaps -required to be of different lengths to suit the width dimensions of the sides. Such a blank is referred to herein as being of the type specified.

In the manufacture of boxes or cartons of the kind just mentioned from cardboard or reinforced stout paper (for example of multilayer construction with a corrugated interlayer) each box or carton is formed from a cut out flat blank with the end flaps at each end of the central portions of the blanks divided by slits in the blanks. The end flaps are initially formed all of the length of the longest flaps required and the flaps needing to be shorter so as to meet edge to edge when folded across have to be trimmed to the required length. It has been a matter of some difficulty to secure accurate construction of the boxes or cartons with correct trimming of the flaps needing to be shortened, and the invention seeks to provide a simple and effective procedure and means whereby this can be readily achieved.

In a known procedure end flaps of blanks of the kind aforesaid are trimmed by passing the blanks in a flat state through apparatus which serves to deflect alternate flaps to separate flaps not to be trimmed from those requiring trimming to shorten them, and after trimming of the appropriate flaps at both ends has been effected the blanks are assembled to close and fasten the sides together by means of apparatus which relies on an edge guide engaging the end flaps to effect proper alignment of the parts of the blank whilst the sides are joined by stitching or stapling. It is found that with alternate end flaps already trimmed such alignment is not altogether reliable and a proportion of the boxes or cartons (sometimes quite a substantial one) become rejects.

To avoid the difllculty just referred to, attempts have been made to trim the flaps requiring shortening after the sides of the blank have been closed with all flaps at the full length, but such attempts have not been altogether successful due to the lack of a reliable way of separating in a flat closed blank flaps requiring trimming from those which are to remain untrimmed, having regard to the circumstance that narrow and wider flaps are present on both faces of the folded closed blank and those on one face overlap those of the opposite face.

In a manufacturing procedure in which use is to be made of the present invention blanks for the boxes or 3,443,49l Patented May 13, 1969 ICC cartons are first folded across and closed by fastening the sides together with the end flaps al1 0f the same length using apparatus which relies on an edge guide engaging the end flaps to effect proper alignment of the parts of the blank for the closing procedure. Afterwards the blanks are subjected to a procedure in accordance with the invention by which certain lflaps are segregated from others and subjected to a trimming procedure to shorten them as required.

In accordance with the invention there is provided a method of trimming selected flaps of a flat closed blank of the type specified having all flaps of maximum length, in which the blank is moved transversely of its length with the flaps projecting laterally and in which a flap to be trimmed is segregated from a flap not lrequired to be trimmed by deflecting a group of flaps all together out of the general plane of the blank and afterwards releasing less than all of the flaps in the group leaving one or more of the flaps still deflected and causing the separated flaps to remain separated by means of a separator or guide, trimming of the appropriate flaps being effected whilst the flaps are thus maintained apart. By this procedure the flaps requiring to be trimmed can be segregated with certainty from those not requiring to be trimmed without damage to the parts of the blank such as might be caused for example by a plough or deflector digging into an edge of a flap.

The invention includes a method of segregating flaps of a flat closed blank of the type specied having flaps all of maximum length which comprises passing blanks in succession along a conveyor with their end flaps projecting outwardly at each side of the conveyor path and during the passage of each blank along the conveyor its end flaps at each side are firstly all deflected out of the general plane of the blanks and afterwards less than all of the flaps are released at each side thereby providing an initial segregation between the flaps, maintaining such segregation by guide means during subsequent movement of the blanks, effecting a further segregation so as to cause two of the flaps that require trimming to be separated from the remaining two flaps and maintaining such separation by guide means in readiness for the trimming operation.

In practising the invention pivoted ploughs may be employed to engage and deflect flaps required to be deflected and maintained out of the plane of the central part of the blanks. It is convenient so to arrange matters that the flaps to remain untrimmed (which are the narrower pair of the four flaps at each end) are caused to be deflected out of the general plane of the blank whilst the flaps to be trimmed both remain in said general plane whilst being acted on by trimming means common to them both.

The invention further provides apparatus for use in Imaking boxes or cartons using flat closed blanks of the type specified, comprising an endless conveyor from which folded closed blanks are adapted to be carried in succession in a flat condition with their end flaps projecting laterally from the conveyor and having on at least one side of the conveyor means Ifor deflecting all of the flaps of a blank on that side of the conveyor together out of the general plane of the blank and afterwards releasing less than all of such flaps leaving one or more of them still deflected, and dividing and guiding means positioned to hold apart and-direct along paths at different levels a released flap or flaps and the flap or flaps still remaining deflected. The deflecting and dividing and guiding means are conveniently organised to segregate a leading flap from the three other flaps and other means may be provided for afterwards segregating the trailing flap of corresponding width to the said leading flap from the other two or said three other flaps in order to separate from the remainder those flaps which are to be trimmed.

It is convenient to have the arrangement of the flap deecting and dividing and guiding means such that the said other two flaps from which the said leading and trailing flaps are segregated are the flaps to be trimmed and to have a single trimming means provided to trim both of those flaps.

There may be corresponding sets of ap controlling instrumentalities on opposite sides of the endless conveyor and arranged at corresponding positions in relation thereto, and means may be provided to mount them so as to be adjustable simultaneously and to the same extent towards and away from the conveyor. Similary at the delivery end of the conveyor there may be two flap trimming devices mounted on at each side of the conveyor and means for adjusting them bodily simultaneously towards and away from the conveyor.

A convenient form of apparatus in accordance with the invention and its method of use will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate by way of example the relevant parts of an apparatus in accordance with the invention.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a box blank conveying and flap controlling and trimming machine;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation view of a rail carrying flap controlling instrumentalities at one side of the conveyor;

FIGURE 3 is a somewhat diagrammatic side elevation view showing the position of ap trimming means in relation to the conveyor;

FIGURE 4 is a composite view showing diagrammatically at (a), (b) and (c) different relative settings of the flaps at one end of a closed Ifolded blank, and

FIGURE 5 is a side elevation of the machine of FIGURE 1.

In FIGURE l there is shown at a rectangular framework forming the main supporting structure of the machine having its sides connected by tie rods 11 and cross bars 12 and 13 at suitable places. The framework 10 is supported at its corners on legs 50, FIGURE 5. Between the sides of the frame 10 there are mounted at the left hand end and the right hand end of the frame as seen in FIGURE 1 upper and lower spindles two of which are shown at 13 in FIGURE 3 which carry centrally narrow pulleys such as 15, FIGURE 3, around which there extend from end to end of the frame 10 upper and lower narrow belts 16 and 17 forming an endless conveyor for closed and flat folded box blanks of the type specified. 'Ihe endless conveyor belts 16 and 17 are driven through the spindles of the pulleys provided at the left hand end of the frame as seen in FIGURE 1 such spindles being driven in opposite directions at the same speed by a chain drive 18, FIGURE 1, from an electric motor 19. The folded and closed box blanks are fed in succcession to the left hand end of the conveyor between the belts 16 and 17 in an attitude in which the end flaps project from opposite sides of the conveyor, the central body portions of the blanks being gripped sufficiently between the lower stretch of conveyor 16 and the upper stretch of conveyor 17 to cause them to be fed forward continuously through the machine.

On opposite sides of the conveyor 16, 17 there are mounted two fixed but adjustable side plates 20 and 21 forming supporting rails for flap controlling instrumentalities to act on tiaps on opposite sides of the blanks as they pass through the apparatus along the conveyor 16, 17. The plates 20 and 21 carry nuts or internally threaded sleeves which are screwed on to oppositely screw threaded parts of the same pitch of double lead screws indicated at 22 which extend from side to side of the frame 10 and are rotatable in bearings carried thereby. There are two such lead screws 22 spaced apart and they have their ends which projet through the frame as seen at the top of FIG. 1 fitted with chain sprockets 23 and coupled to turn in unison by means of an endless chain 24. On one of the sprockets 23 there is provided an eccentric handle 25 by which the lead screws 22 can be rotated simultaneously in the same direction and at the same speed to adjust the supporting rails l20 and 21 simultaneously and to the same extent towards and away from the conveyor belts 16 and 17 to suit box blanks of different lengths.

At the right hand end of the frame 10` there are mounted flap trimming devices indicated generally at 26 and 27 which are similarly movable bodily towards and away from the conveyor belts 16 and 17 to the same extents by being mounted on a lead screw 28 having oppositely screw threaded ends similar to the lead screws 22. Each trimming device which is of orthodox form comprises mountings 29 and 30 for rotatable overlapping cutter discs 31 and an electric driving motor 32 the whole of which parts are movable as a complete assembled unit. It will be seen from FIG. 3 that the cutting discs are positioned immediately beyond the delivery end of the conveyor belts 16, 17. The cutters are set by means of the lead screw 28 to be positioned in the correct line for trimming ott" surplus parts of selected blank flaps which require to be shortened.

The flap controlling instrumentalities corresponding ones of which are mounted on the opposite sides of the conveyor belts .16, 17 can best be seen by inspection of FIG. 2 which shows the instrumentalities mounted on the supporting rail 20. First of all there is an inclined deflector plate or ramp 33 projecting inwardly from the rail 20 and mounted by means of screwed stems engaging and clamped in position in horizontal adjusting slots 34 and 35 in the rail 20. `Somewhat to the right there is pivoted at its centre part at 36 to the rail 20 a crescent shaped plough 37 and this is biased by the weight of its lower horn so as to cause its upper horn 37a to bear against a stop 38 which consists of a collar or boss which can be adjusted to turn about an eccentric pin or stem for adjustment purposes and then lixe'd in place. The plough 37 constitutes dividing means to separate iiaps which reach it above the level of its bottom horn from these at a lower level and co-operates with guiding means formed by ixed wire guide rails 39 and 40 slanting upwardly and projecting inwardly from the supporting rail 20". Further along the latter to the right of the plough 37 is another similar crescent shaped plough 41 pivoted at 42 and having an upper horn 41a co-operating with an adjustable stop member 43 similar to the stop member 38. Cooperating with the plough 41 there are xed wire guide rails 44 and 45 slanting downwardly and reaching inwardly from the supporting rail 20 and serving to deliect downwardly any aps which pass under them, whereas the guide rails 39 and 40 detiect upwardly any aps passing over them. The guide rails 40 and 45 reach to about or just beyond the position of the cutter discs 31 on each side of the conveyor.

The position of the box blank receiving nip between the conveyor belts y16 and 17 is arranged to be at about the level of the middle of the height of the supporting rails 20 and 21. Thus it will be seen that in the operation of the apparatus a blank on being first passed along by the conveyor belts 16 and 17 will have all its end flaps engaged under the inclined plate 33 and the corresponding plate at the opposite side of the conveyor, which plates will senve as means for dellecting all of the aps downwardly. To follow what then happens it is necessary to consider the diagrammatic showing in FIG. 4 in which, on an enlarged scale compared with the other ligures, the arrangement of one set of end aps of a folded closed blank is shown in various positions.

The flaps are shown edgewise in FIG. 4 and indicated by the letters A, B, C and D. The blanks A and C are narrow ones and the blanks B an'd D are wider ones and require their lengths trimmed to approximately half the width of the flaps A and C; whereas the flaps A and C are required to remain at full length which is equal to approximately half the width of the flaps B and D. At

the view (a) the flaps A to lD are indicated as being at the lower level to which they are depressed by the derector plate 33 i.e. when the bottom end of the plate 33 is bridging the slot between flaps A and B. The deflector plate 33 is set by adjustment along the slots 34 and 3S (to suit the dimensions of particular blan-ks) in such a position in relation to the plough 37 that the clearance between these parts is greater than the width of flaps A and C and somewhat narrower than the width of flaps B and D, Thus when flap A passes beyond deflector plate 33 it becomes released and springs upwards due to its resilience to the rais-ed position indicated in view (b) and rides over the plough 37; whereas the remaining three flaps -B to D are held down by engagement of the deector plate 33 with the flap B so that they all pass under the plough 37, the latter having been canted somewhat in a clockwise direction by engagement with the lllap A. The flap A now passes upwards having been divided or segregated from the remaining three flaps and will ride over the guides 39 and 40. The aps B, C and D then travel forward together until flap D rides over the plough 41 an-d cants this clock-wise thereby causing its horns to raise the flap D slightly and carry with it the flap B as illustrated in view (c). The ap C is however not so raised and rides under the first encountered horn of the plough 41 to pass under the guide rwire rails 44 and 45 and be deflected downwardly whilst the aps B and D pass above these rails. Thereupon the blank is discharge'd from the conveyor 16, 17 with its flaps B and D caused to pass between the cutter discs 31 and be trimmed as required while the aps A and C pass in raised and lowered attitudes respectively out of range of the trimming device.

llt will be appreciated that the aps at each end of the blanks are treated similarly at the same time. Thus a continuous succession of blanks can be trimmed expeditiously, economically and in a correct and accurate manner.

The apparatus above described may be profvided with a gated supply magazine to receive a pil-e of closed flat blanks an'd feed them singly in succession onto the input end of the conveyor. In addition the delivery end of the apparatus may be fitted with a receptacle into which the trimmed blanks are passed and automatically stacked.

What I claim is:

1. A method of trimming selected flaps of a flat closed blank of the type specieid having aps all of maximum length in which the blank is moved transversely of its length with the flaps projecting laterally and in which a flap to be trimmed is segregated from a flap not required to be trimmed by deecting a group of flaps all together out of the general plane of the blank and afterwards releasing less than all of the flaps in the group leaving one or more of the aps still deflected and causing the separated flaps to remain separated by means of a separator guide, trimming of the selected aps being effected whilst the flaps are thus maintained apart.

2. A method of segregating flaps of a flat closed blank of the type specified having flaps all of maximum length which comprises passing blanks in succession along a conveyor with their `end flaps projecting outwardly at each side of the conveyor path and during the passage of each blank along the conveyor its end flaps at each side are lrstly all deflected out of the general plane of the blanks and afterwards less than all of the aps are released at each side thereby providing an initial segregation between the flaps, maintaining such segregation by guide means during subsequent movement of the blanks, effecting a further segregation so as to cause two of the aps that require trimming to be separated from the remaining two flaps and maintaining such separation by guide means in readiness for the trimming operation.

3. A method according to claim 1 wherein pivoted ploughs are employed to engage and deflect flaps required to be deflected and maintained out of the plane of the central part of the blank.

4. Apparatus for use in making boxes or cartons using flat closed blanks of the type specified, comprising an endless conveyor along which folded closed blanks are adapted to be carried in succession in a flat condition with their end flaps projecting laterally from the conveyor, and having on at least one side of the conveyor means for -deecting all of the flaps of a blank on that side of the conveyor together out of the general plane of the blank and afterwards releasing less than all of such flaps leaving one or more of them still deflected, and dividing and guiding means positioned to hold apart and to direct 'along paths at `different levels a released flap or flaps and the flap or flaps still remaining deflected.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the said deliecting and dividing and guiding means organised to segregate a leading flap from the three other flaps and other means is provided for afterwards segregating the trailing flap of corresponding width to the said leading flap from the other two of said three other flaps in order to separate from the remainder those flaps which are to be trimmed.

i6. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the arrangement of the ap deflecting and dividing and guiding means is such that the said other two flaps from which the said leading and trailing flaps are segregated are the aps to be trimmed and a single trimming means is provided to trim both of those flaps.

7. Apparatus according to claim 4 'wherein the deflecting means is formed by an inclined plate or ramp which is adjustable towards and away from the dividing and guiding means.

8. Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein the dividing and guiding means is constituted by a centrally pivoted plough substantially of crescent shape having one horn cooperating with an adjustable stop, and a guide rail for directing a segregated llap along a part at a different level from the others.

9. Apparatus according to claim 5 wherein the said other means for segregating the said trailing flap is constituted by a centrally pivoted crescent shaped plough having one horn co-operating with an adjustable stop said plough being followed by a flap controlling guide rail.

10. Apparatus according to claim 9 having corresponding sets of flap controlling instrumentalities on opposite sides of the endless conveyor and arranged at coresponding positions in relation thereto.

y11. Apparatus according to claim 10l having supporting rails on opposite sides of the conveyor carrying the flap controlling instrumentalities and means for adjusting the supporting rails simultaneously and with the same extent of motion towards and away from the conveyor to suit different sizes of blanks.

12. Apparatus according to claim 4 having two ap trimming devices mounted one at each side of the conveyor at the delivery end thereof and means for adjusting said trimming devices bodily simultaneously towards and away from the conveyor to suit box blanks of different sizes.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS THEREON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner. 

